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House Robots
House robots, the mighty machines stationed in the CPZs of original BBC Robot Wars, were absent from The First Roblox War but were intended to be brought back for The Second Roblox War, with one house robot patrolling per battle. In order to introduce the house robots to the audience and competitors, Extreme would have seen two House Robot Rebellion battles, only one of which was filmed. The cancellation of The Second Roblox War meant that few of its house robots, mainly replicas of real RW house robots, were built. First Extreme Wars/Second Roblox War Two House Robot Rebellion battles were planned for Extreme to introduce four new house robots. Ultimately, only one of these battles was filmed, meaning that the competitors involved - Network and Emeryville - were the first and only competitors in Extreme to face the house robots. As such, Network was the only robot to see defeat by a house robot, and Emeryville the only robot to survive against the house robots. Only two replica house robots were planned for use in Extreme, although it is expected that the other house robots would have been built around the time of the World Championship to prepare for The Second Roblox War. The other two house robots had been new creations, and the House Robot Rebellion battles would have had an equal share, with one replica and one original house robot each. Replicas Shunt 'was seen in the House Robot Rebellion in episode 1. Overall, his resemblance to the original Shunt was kept quite close, with the only noticeable intended difference being increased length. He weighed 336.5sgs and, like the real Shunt, boasted great pushing power and strength. Although the scoop and blade were not powered to lift, they were hinged to provide a lower ground clearance. Despite this, the sides of Shunt offered a vulnerability; Emeryville took liberties with exploiting the high ground clearance during the House Robot Rebellion. ''"Shunt, the house robot capable of pulling a fully loaded Land Rover - even in the virtual world of Roblox! Despite its weight, the scoop and speed combination give Shunt incredible pushing power, at the expense that it can be easily toppled." ~ ''Spreadsheet description The replica of '''Matilda '''was never fully finished but was used in practicing for episode 5's House Robot Rebellion. The tusks would not have been powered to lift, and so the main weapon would have been the rear flywheel which - if used correctly - would have had the power and grip to throw or at least bounce a robot. Only two other replica house robots were attempted at the time of Extreme and The Second Roblox War. A replica of '''Sgt Bash '''was half built, salvaging parts from the large scale Bash seen at Jonateer's "Robloxia Robot Wars TESTING" game. Likewise, the '''Growler '''seen on this game - and its original, smaller version - were rebuilt in a smaller size to try and provide a Growler replica for the series with little success. Texy11 of Team Chaos also built a Growler replica, albeit internally driven. New House Robots Alongside Shunt, new house robot '''Grinder '''made its debut. In terms of weight, Grinder was superior not only to the competitors but also to the other house robots, weighing almost 1000sgs over the competitor weight limit. Its weaponry included two claw hands and a scoop along the front which provided Grinder with the means to get under Network early in the bout, eventually bringing it over to the wall but not having enough speed to throw it OOTA. Unlike the other house robots, Grinder had not been built by Jon, and had instead been built by RobloxPizzaman3 of Team Global Nuisance after Jon had called upon roboteers to provide possible house robots. ''"The heaviest of the House Robots: Grinder. Weighing in at an almighty 1252.4 sgs, Grinder will be no push-over. Equipped with two static claws and a wide scoop, there's no doubting the power of this slow but mighty machine." ~ ''Spreadsheet description Matilda would have been accompanied by '''Lord Ownage '''in their House Robot Rebellion. Lord Ownage was based heavily on the house robot of the same name seen at Jon's "Robloxia Robot Wars TESTING" which itself was based on Cassius Chrome, and had been built instead to avoid having to build an accurate replica of the Series 7 House Robot. Just shy of 500sgs, Lord Ownage's weaponry included two reciprocating spikes at either side and a saw blade at the top of the scoop. Strengths were listed as power, as with Shunt, and the weaknesses were listed as effectiveness, what with almost all the weaponry being of superficial value. Robot Wars: League Robot Wars: League was a much smaller series than The First War or Extreme and this may it more suitable for house robots to be used during battles. Also, with the addition of a Pinball side competition, house robots would be needed to patrol the arena. Unlike previous house robots, real life replicas would not be the aim and instead the primary aim was function rather than form. Work on the house robots began in April 2014. The first of the new house robots started life as a ten-wheel tracked base and slowly evolved into a robot vaguely resembling Mr Psycho, albeit with a clawed scoop attached to both arms and the head of former house robot Grinder. This weaponry had been chosen to provide a more effective and spectacular display than standard weapons in a no-damage competion. Facetiously suggested for the house robot in an antweight competition, this robot weighed in excess of 2700sgs and was capable of lifting and holding approximately 2000sgs (the weight of one of the Roblox stamper tool car models), through both the power of the large motors in the shoulders and claws as well as invisible 'brakes' which held the motorised parts in place when the movement was stopped. This method was not infallible, however, and testing proved that careless operation would bring the house robot toppling over. Ultimately, after going for several days without being named, the house robot was christened 'The Abomination by Bradley of Team Emeryville. The Abomination's priority weapon-wise was the ability to lift robots, perhaps immobilised, into the air and then carry them around to be released at any other arena hazard. While, in private testing such as Play Solo the weapon worked perfectly, in-game the weapon suffered the same glitches as those seen in many TST Robot Wars battles. During planning for Robot Wars: League, there was discussion of ways to make crushing weapons and claws, with one such method - temporary Welds - intended to be implemented in The Abomination's claw scoop. The second house robot was designed with the intentions of being stronger than any competitor, along a similar vein to Shunt, making it a dominating power in such possible trials as Sumo as well as providing one defending house robot in Pinball. The final robot, yellow and brown with four wheels, weighed roughly 1020sgs and had the power to easily push over 2000sgs. It did, however, have a high ground clearance of 0.2 studs at either side, and despite its weight was easily flipped by the more powerful rear-hinged flippers in service. The robot was also equipped with an overhead sharpened hammer, as around this time a mini competition had been proposed involving the Global Robotic Combat Synthesiser, and so a house robot was needed which was capable of inflicting damage. Because the house robot was double-ended, headlights (white) and rear lights (red) were added to aid control. This was the last of the three house robots to receive a name, and was given the name Bobdozer, as a portmanteau of 'Bobcat' and 'bulldozer'. The third house robot took inspiration from Matilda's flywheel, which had enough power to inflict severe damage on competitors and even throw some of them out of the arena. While in normal competition, the latter of these two powers would be put to great use, another house robot with the ability to cause damage would be needed in competitions involving GRoCS. The house robot, weighing 1080sgs was not entirely unlike Matilda in appearance but was painted in shades of pale pink and beige, giving it the appearance of an "Albino louse". The 120sgs flywheel located at the rear of the house robot, for the same reasons as the restriction on competitor flywheels and other automated weapons, only ran when the robot was in reverse and was capable of lifting roughly 1000sgs, giving enough power to throw most competitors out of the arena if caught at the right angle. When the flywheel was eventually modified to run with reverse, the robot sometimes took on a wobbling motion while the flywheel got up to speed; consequently, Charlie of Team Judgement gave the house robot the name Lady Wigglebottom. In late May 2014, a fourth house robot was constructed, taking basis from Dead Metal in that it had horizontal pincers, but these pincers were mounted onto a lifting arm to allow robots to be carried around the arena, providing a similar robot to The Abomination albeit smaller and more suitable for the arena. After spending the first day of testing painted black, the house robot was painted in red and white in reference to Japan, as the rounded rear roughly resembled the Rising Sun flag and, further working with the Japan themes, was given the name Krazy Katana. Construction on three more house robots began shortly before the special events ended with the intentions of being used in - and proposing the idea, if required - a Gauntlet competition. Only one of these house robots was finished as the series ended. The finished house robot was intended as a 'ramrig', only able to move forwards and backwards, but had punching spiked claws akin to those of Cassius Chrome, with potential for damage if in a GRoCS environment. It is possible that, in order to save server space, this house robot would have been automated. Of the house robots that were never finished, the first was much like a smaller, grey version of The Abomination, but with independent arms; although the left arm had been rigged up with a claw hand, the right arm never received a final weapon, as the originally planned flywheel (as if combining Lady Wigglebottom with The Abomination) proved difficult to control and ineffective. The second house robot was unable to move around the arena, filling the role of The Sentinel in the original Robot Wars, and had two flywheels attached to a fully moveable crane arm, giving 360 degrees attack potential on a robot of any height. After League In late 2015 and early 2016, the transition to a new physics engine made roboteering on Roblox particularly difficult. Consequently, of the house robots constructed for the 2014 competition, only Lady Wigglebottom remains in working order. It is planned at some point during 2016 to create more accurate replicas of the original BBC house robots, in the wake of the TV series' revival, for demonstration purposes. The first of these to appear was Dead Metal, his build coming shortly after the teaser confirming his 2016 appearance. The robot's reliability in-game was proven to be limited when Dead Metal was made publicly visible, as its moving saw mechanism and pincers - although very successful in Studio - appeared 'laggy' and would glitch under certain circumstances. Before any work on further House Robots, it is intended to seek out an alternative means of controlling robots better suited to the new physics. During this time, a far simpler house robot in comparison - Matilda - was constructed for the second time under TST Robot Wars. Again, this incarnation of Matilda featured the tusks and flywheel combination, but following the successful weaponry of Lady Wigglebottom, this flywheel was capable of GRoCS destruction and throwing robots over the arena wall; the tusks were also capable of flipping, but with nowhere near as much strength. With the basic chassis constructed and largely effective, Matilda's hideously complex shell proved the most difficult element to build, with countless Solid Modelling variations produced before settling for the three-section rear of the final robot. As third house robot Sgt Bash was put together it became apparent that the whole fleet would eventually be done - so too a functioning version of the Series 7 arena. Sgt Bash's pincers and flamethrower both functioned, the projectile flames themselves later scripted to ignite light materials, and his rear armour was set up to tear away in the same manner as the real robot. Trivia and Interesting Stuff *The replica house robots from Extreme, Shunt and Matilda, were loaned across to texy11 for his Robot Wars competition following the collapse of TST Robot Wars. Using his own flipper robots as a basis, texy11 managed to give Shunt and Matilda the lifting weapons their real counterparts had, with Matilda's tusks and Shunt's scoop now powered. From this, later competitions hosted by texy (now under the name Texodus) featured different house robots, including Sgt Bash and Cassius Chrome. *Although weighing at least 70sgs above the weight limit, Shunt was still lighter than some entries into the First and Second Roblox Wars, as well as Extreme. For example, attempted Second Wars entry Mr Silver weighed 106sgs more than Shunt, and the original Team Global Nuisance entry famously weighed more than 500sgs, exceeding the weight of both Shunt, Lord Ownage and possibly Matilda. Category:Robot Wars Category:Roblox